★ Senlin Ascends
Josiah Bancroft. Orbit, $15.99 trade paper
(448p) ISBN 978-0-316-51791-1
Bancroft’s brilliant debut fantasy, first
in a planned series, stars the eponymous
Thomas Senlin, a provincial schoolmaster.
Thomas and his wife, Marya, honeymoon
at the Tower of Babel, a notable tourist
attraction. No one knows how high the
tower is, as its upper stories are hidden
behind a permanent fog, and many other
things about it are also mysterious and
dangerous. Upon losing Marya in the
massive crowd around the tower’s base,
Thomas begins to climb in the hope of
meeting her again. Every one of the tower’s
staggeringly original individual rooms,
many of which have their own cultures,
could make a setting for a novel all by
itself, and the suspenseful plot and cleverly handled side characters add to the
surfeit of riches. The relationship between
Thomas and Marya is touching, well-established, and, most importantly, egalitarian. At once steampunk and epic,
surreal and yet grounded in believable
logistics, this novel goes off like a firework and suggests even greater things
in the author’s future. Agent: Ian Drury,
Sheil Land Associates. (Jan.)
Age of Order
Julian North. Julian North, $2.99 e-book
(339p) ASIN B01N25QE72
In this tense dystopian science fiction
thriller, a high school track star from the
wrong side of town gets a chance to attend
a prestigious Manhattan school, but the
cost could be more than she expects. A
near-future New York, now the capital of
the 49 states led by the faux-meritocratic
Orderist movement, has become the
exclusive realm of the “highborn” rich.
Running has always been a haven for
Daniela Machado, the fastest high school
athlete in ragged Bronx City, but when
she’s offered a place at Manhattan’s posh
Tuck School, it’s only natural to be suspi-
cious. Los richos, the superwealthy Orderist
families of Manhattan, have little use for
people like Daniela and her family. To
most of her new classmates at Tuck,
Daniela is just a “nope”—a normally pro-
duced embryo, born without the expen-
sive genetic enhancements customary
among the wealthy. When Daniela learns
her brother is dying of a genetic disorder
manufactured as part of a highborn plot
that could turn Manhattan’s social and
political structure upside down, she has to
choose a side before it’s too late. North has
created a near-future world that feels all
too believable. Daniela is a pragmatic and
compelling heroine whose voice will hold
readers’ attentions and linger long after
the story is done. (BookLife)
Fates Aflame
P. Anastasia. P. Anastasia, $16.95 trade paper
(430p) ISBN 978-0-9974485-3-5
This science fiction fantasy mashup by
Anastasia (Dark Diary) falls short on multiple fronts. Lt. Valhara Hawksford is reassigned from the Celestial Galaxy Academy
to the Silver Diamond Academy back on
Earth in order to resolve ongoing squabbles
between the two. There she is befriended
by Cmdr. Mattheia Draven, second in command of Silver Diamond. Strangely, the pair
do not work together to resolve the issues
that separate the schools and, in fact, what
those issues might be is never revealed. In
general, there is little worldbuilding to
speak of, so the reader never learns even
basic things such as the location of Celestial
Galaxy in relation to Earth or why the students of Silver Diamond are forced to use
pens and paper in this spacefaring society.
Logic is weak throughout, and word choices
occasionally miss the mark completely
(when Mattheia thinks “My injury would
be less instigated that way,” readers can
only guess what that might mean). After
very little happens for a long while, Valhara
and Mattheia begin a series of adventures
in which magic appears, too late to save
this poorly written work. (BookLife)
Romance/Erotica
Lady Be Reckless
Megan Frampton. Avon, $7.99 mass market
(384p) ISBN 978-0-06-266664-2
Frampton’s second Victorian-era Duke’s
Daughters novel (after Lady Be Bad) spar-
kles with wit. It begins with a Gone with the
Wind reference: Lady Olivia proposes to
Lord Carson in a private room during a ball
and he gently declines. She heaves a bit of
bric-a-brac while he leaves, at which time
Edward Wolcott, Carson’s friend and the
illegitimate son of a financier, pops up from
behind the couch. Frampton takes her leave
from Mitchell here: Wolcott is remarkably
kind during their introduction. Olivia
decides to make a project of getting him
accepted in high society, to prove her
wifely bona fides to Lord Carson. Her plan
goes awry in the best way, and they fall in
love instead. The author elevates a standard
plot with crisp writing, witty secondaries,
and unpredictability. Olivia’s effervescence
attracts Wolcott before her beauty does,
and Frampton plays with the do-gooder
trope in ways that recall Jane Austen’s
Emma. Leads who genuinely enjoy each
other’s company and the obligatory love
scene in a storm-battered shed will delight
fans of historical romances. Agent: Louise
Fury, Bent Agency. (Mar.)
So Over You
Kate Meader. Pocket, $9.99 e-book (304p)
ISBN 978-1-5011-8089-7
Meader serves up a delicious mix of
sports, sexy romance, and complicated,
captivating characters with her second
Chicago Rebels hockey contemporary
(after Irresistible You). Hockey has always
been Isobel Chase’s life, first as the
daughter of Clifford Chase—the late
hockey legend, Rebels owner, and all-around jerk—and then in her own right,
though her career ended with a skate blade
to the skull in her first professional game.
Now she’s running the Rebels with her sisters and trying to avoid her team’s newest
recruit, Vadim Petrov. Isobel has a checkered past with the gorgeous, brooding
Russian. Her father blackballed him from
the NHL to keep him away from Isobel,
and Vadim still resents it. Isobel also still
remembers her first sexual experience, in
which Vadim failed to satisfy her. As they
reconnect, he vows to do better this time
around. Meader’s erotic scenes could melt
ice, and her complex protagonists will keep
readers eagerly turning pages. (Dec.)
Back Home at Firefly Lake
Jen Gilroy. Forever, $7.99 mass market (368p)
ISBN 978-1-4555-6961-8
Gilroy’s wistful third Firefly Lake contemporary (after The Cottage at Firefly
Lake) brings two sad and lonely people
together for a second chance at love. Stoic
widower Luc Simard returns to his small
Vermont hometown of Firefly Lake to
take over his family’s creamery business.
He’s coaching the local boys’ hockey team
